


Best Dressed

by 15dogs



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Amortentia, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, F/M, Oneshot, imagine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:08:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27908770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/15dogs/pseuds/15dogs
Summary: You’re paired up with your long time crush, Harry, for your amortentia project when things go awry.
Relationships: Harry Potter/Reader, Harry Potter/You
Kudos: 42





	Best Dressed

**Author's Note:**

> cross-posted from tumblr (@15-dogs)

Things were going terribly, to say the least. Well, not terribly, but certainly not good. Hermione always did say you had a flair for the dramatics. You and Harry were partnered up during Potions for a big project, one that took you ages to complete. Of course, you just so happened to be brewing amortentia, and Hermione had just so happened to abandon you with the guy you were hopelessly crushing on. So, really, it shouldn’t have been all that bad. Concocting love potion with the guy you liked seemed like something out of a muggle romance novel but things never seem to turn out the way you wanted them to.

“So,” you began, depositing the materials on your shared desk, “here’s the stuff we need. Slughorn said that it’ll take nine days to brew this so we might as well get started.”

Harry nodded and cracked open his textbook. Your heart ached a little; he couldn’t even look at you? Not even reply with a semi-enthusiastic “yes”? Apparently not. He had been acting strangely ever since you two were partnered up but you dismissed it, opting to relish the time spent with the messy haired boy next to you.

“Okay, first, we turn on the flame.” You lit a fire with your wand underneath the cauldron and it grew larger with every passing second. Harry looked up, eyes wide, jumping up from his seat to tug you away.

“You could burn yourself!” he scolded. He took his own wand out and muttered a spell to reduce the flames. 

However, you couldn’t focus on what he said as your back was flush against his chest. You could feel his heart pounding, wondering what on Earth could have gotten him so nervous. He seemed to notice that you had been silent for a moment too long (because the feeling of his strong arm clutching your waist was a bit distracting) and quickly retracted his hands, hurrying back to his seat.

“Since when have you been so careful?” you teased, raising an eyebrow at him with suspicion. He glanced over his shoulder at you as you resumed your position beside him.

“Since always,” he replied with a shrug. You began to laugh loudly at him and he looked up at you, blush coating his cheeks. For a moment, you faltered at the sight before regaining your sense of self.

Clearing your throat, you said, “Yeah, right. Next thing you’re going to tell me is that I’m related to Malfoy.”

A smile erupted on Harry’s face that had you weak in the knees. “Don’t joke about that. Don’t want that one coming true, now do we?”

It was the third day into brewing and you and Harry had decided to meet up after classes to check on your potion. Both of you had stripped of your heavy school uniforms once you entered the stuffy classroom, draping robes and sweaters on the chairs near the back of the room.

“You know, I wasn’t so impressed with the season this year. The Canons barely proved competition to anyone but the Harpies!” you complained as you stirred the potion. Harry chuckled at your enthusiasm.

“Is that so?”

“That  _ is _ so!”

You couldn’t help but laugh with him. His happiness was so contagious, it was ridiculous. Sometimes you thought that he knew how you felt but Hermione assured you that it wasn’t obvious. No, those longing glances in class weren’t obvious, nor were the pronounced ogling of him as you daydreamed.

How could he be so oblivious?

Harry scanned his textbook, his brows knit together. He ran his finger across the words again with confusion. He looked up at you and explained, “I’m going to fetch something from the ingredients closet, d’you mind?”

“If it’ll speed this up, please go for it.”

Although your words were joking, Harry seemed a little disappointed. His smile fell slightly before he nodded with a grin that didn’t quite meet his eyes. He disappeared into the closet leaving you feeling lost.

Ah, perfect. Where things go wrong.

You never even bothered to ask him what he was getting. Thinking you were doing yourself a favor, you glanced at the textbook. Would you look at that, that flames should be higher. You took out your wand to induce a larger flame, causing the potion to bubble. But then it started to boil. And then it exploded.

It wasn’t a loud, dramatic pop, but rather a silent burst of hot solution staining your entire shirt. You immediately turned the flames down before groaning at the sight of your ruined shirt. You peeked at the closet doorway, then ran over towards the abandoned clothing at the back of the room.

You shouldn’t have done it, but you did. Harry’s sweater almost looked too promising. Your fingers subconsciously reached out to it after removing your blouse. You slipped on the worn material, massaging the cloth between your fingers. You raised the fabric to your nose, inhaling light cologne and laundry detergent.

“Is that my jumper?” Harry asked. His voice made your heart jump into your throat. Your hands began to shake as you turned around to meet his eyes. You gasped at the way his gaze lustfully roved over your body.

“I...yes, sorry. I, um, blew up the potion.” You winced at your words, your eyes clenching shut to avoid his glare. You opened them after you heard footsteps coming your way.

“Well,” Harry began, glancing over his shoulder at the mess, “still made it farther than I could alone.”

Your laughter got caught in your throat at the way he studied you. He was so close, it was intoxicating. Whatever aromas that lingered on his sweater were a thousand times more powerful up close. You let out a shaky breath as Harry hesitantly placed his hands on your hips. Before you could ask what he was doing, he kissed you. You were frozen, your cheeks red hot with embarrassment.

He pulled away quickly, raising his hands in the air. He shook his head and backed up into the table, nearly knocking over the half emptied cauldron. You took a few steps towards him but he tried to back up further.

“I can clean this up,” he offered. “Go to dinner.”

“But Harry-”

“It’s really okay, (Y/N).”

You slowly exited the Potions classroom and made your way to the Great Hall, wondering what in the world had just happened. You anxiously tugged at the sleeves of the sweater you wore, realizing just then that you had left with Harry’s sweater on.

Harry was quite good at avoiding people when he needed to. You could barely chat with him during class because he had his nose buried in his textbook which, for everyone there, was a rather strange occurrence. Rumors spread quickly about the two of you after you had attended dinner in a size too large Gryffindor sweater― Hogwarts did love a good rumor.

Fantastic. Another way to ruin Harry’s day.

Slughorn had been quite angry at the two of you for screwing up the potion. He docked your grades and encouraged the two of you to split up because you were no good working together. You were forced to join Malfoy and Crabbe while Harry got the pleasure of joining Ron and Hermione. At least you didn’t have to feel guilty about partnering him up with someone he hated. You decided you could take the bullet on that one.

But leaving you in the dark like that was something you couldn’t accept. You had begged Hermione to clue you in on anything that Harry might’ve said that would have pertained to you but she claimed she knew nothing. She was quite an awful liar.

“I don’t buy it,” she replied with a shake of your head. Hermione feigned offence before dropping her facade at your knowing look.

“Fine, so he may have mentioned  _ something _ .”

Your heart began to race. “Something? What? What did he say?”

“He mentioned something about his jumper being missing? How he felt guilty about...Godric, what was it?”

You groaned, tugging at your hair. “Come on, spit it out!”

Hermione sent you a sharp look. “I’m trying, (Y/N), Merlin...oh! Right. He said he felt guilty about not following through. Does that mean anything to you?”

You scoured your mind, searching for an answer. Sadly, you shook your head. “When did things get so bloody complicated with him?”

You sauntered up to your dorm not too long after, feeling an emotional toll on yourself. Harry was your friend, first and foremost, but now he acted like he didn’t even know you. As you fell on your bed, you noticed the house elves deposited your fresh laundry there. You shuffled through the items, freezing as Harry’s sweater was mixed in.

You shouldn’t do it, no. But of course you did. You threw that thing on with haste, wasting no time in bringing the material up to your nose. His smell was still there, at least a little bit of it. Enough lingered so that you fell asleep, dreaming of Harry beside you. You dreamt of him holding you against his chest, how his hands would slowly trail down your back and pop under his sweater which you wore, caressing your skin softly. He would trace his initials into your back, not to say that he owned you, but rather to say that he had someone to spend the rest of his life with.

Yes, those were nice things to think about, but clearly they would never happen as Harry had really taken to not talking to you. However, you didn’t need to think about that.

Malfoy and Crabbe squished you between them, their shoulders on yours. You huffed a little as you tried to wiggle out of their enclosure, the two bullies cackling to themselves.

“Leave her alone, Malfoy,” Harry commanded. His sudden presence made you jump― so  _ now _ he wanted to talk to you?

“So, it’s true, then? Potter is in love?” Malfoy sneered. When he was distracted, you managed to slip out from the two Slytherins and slide over towards Hermione, nodding a polite thanks at Harry.

Before Harry could fight back, Slughorn demanded everyone return to their stations as they were to test out their potions. One by one, students announced the scents that appeared in their amortentia. But honestly, everyone was really only waiting for two people to respond: you and Harry. Were the rumors true? Were you putting on an act? Who is Harry Potter’s soulmate?

Whispers flooded the room as Harry leaned forward to smell the potion. He instantly went red, looking at you from the corner of his eye. He gave a tight-lipped smile to Slughorn before he said, “Must be coming down with something because I can’t smell a thing.”

Slughorn, who looked like he would combust from all the commotion, simply nodded. “Right, then. Next is...Miss (Y/L/N).”

Your heart pounded in your ears. Although you hated to admit it, you were beginning to buy into those rumors; who really was Harry Potter’s soulmate?

You took a deep inhale, then frowned. You tried it again, groaning as you looked over at Harry. “Harry,” you complained quietly, “would you stop wearing that...cologne? Whatever it is, I can’t smell the potion.”

Harry’s eyes went wide. You raised a brow at him in confusion. Murmurs filled the room.

“Erm, (Y/N)?”

“What?” you responded, slightly irritated.

“I’m not wearing any cologne. In fact, I used Ron’s soaps today because I ran out of mine.”

Your jaw dropped. While still maintaining eye contact, you leaned forward once more to sniff the potion. All you could smell was that cologne, wait...no, there was broomstick wax and pine. It felt like inhaling his scent from his sweater all over again.

Class was painfully slow after that. Harry bounced his leg anxiously while you fiddled with your robe to avoid looking at him. A pit formed deep in your stomach― it was almost too embarrassing that, not only did Harry know that you liked him, but the whole class knew as well.

The second class ended, you darted out of the room and towards the dorms. Harry couldn’t keep up with you so he ended up trailing lamely behind. You bolted upstairs to your room and sniffed his sweater again and again, confirming you hadn’t gone mad for thinking that you smelled Harry in your amortentia. As your anxiety increased, you put on Harry’s sweater, the action instantly grounding you.

“(Y/N)!” a familiar voice shouted from outside your window. “(Y/N), please! I’ll cause a scene if I have to!”

You peeked out the window to see Harry hovering on his broom. You cracked the window open and let him in, feeling your body thrumming with nerves. 

“Are you thick?” you cried. “What are you doing?”

“(Y/N), I lied. I smelled you in the potion, I just...I couldn’t put you through any more humiliation, so I lied!”

“Humiliation?” And here you were thinking you humiliated him.

“Yes, humiliation. I knew that my feelings towards you would come out one way or another, but I never expected it to be the way that it did, spiraling into rumors and all.”

“What are you saying? You fancied me prior to this?”

That’s not exactly what you wanted to say but you couldn’t help yourself. The words just spilled out of your mouth and you couldn’t take them back.

“I don’t want you to be just another rumor.”

“That’s not funny, Harry,” you mumbled dismally.

Harry gripped your arm to get your attention, his eyes looking through you were severe intensity. You gasped slightly at the feeling, butterflies erupting in your stomach. Harry opened his mouth to speak but was cut off when he noticed the familiar material in his hands.

“Is that my jumper?” Your body went rigid at his words.

“...no?”

Harry’s eyes flickered down to your lips. You didn’t have time to process the action before he was on you, kissing you sweetly. You clutched him for support as his gentle kiss left you stumbling. Your arms snaked around the back of his neck, playing with tails of his hair as he pulled away from you. 

Ah, right. Hermione’s comment made sense now. There was the follow through.

“It looks much better on you, anyway.”

**Author's Note:**

> follow me on tumblr (@15-dogs) and wattpad (@15dogs)!!


End file.
